There is so much music made about the exuberance of youth, about first loves and new experiences, songs driven by that wide-eyed blend of new encounters and being slightly lost in a world of possibilities, by the fact that life is an empty canvas that you are only just learning to paint your story on.
What is excellent about Honeymoon, the latest album from Brynn Andre, is that it gives us a set of songs written from the perspective of someone who has passed through the wild days of youth and is now embracing a slightly more responsible life. And ironically, it is a life filled with just as much passion and opportunity for adventure, and with some wisdom and life experience on her side, it offers a more mature and measured take on things.
It is a set of honest, authentic and relatable songs in a way that most teen-orientated fodder can never be. The overall theme is captured best in Good Time, a song about having, as the title suggests, just enjoying a night out but doing so with a tinge of nostalgia, appreciation and the knowledge that the babysitter has things covered at home.
It’s an album which blends pop and dance, buoyancy and balladry, shimmering sonic heights and reflective soul searching. But more than anything, it reminds us that music isn’t just a young person’s game; we have something valuable and relatable to say at every stage of our life. It also proves that when you get beyond trying to capture the madness of our formative years in song, what replaces it – experience, wisdom, appreciation, comfort, security in who you are, confidence and the like – is much more rewarding because life itself is so much more rewarding.
Sorry kids, it isn’t all about you!
